Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) and mycotoxins are contaminants that both threaten the safety of food products derived from cereal grains. Durumwheat, in particular, is the most sensitive for Cd and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation in grains.The possible occurrence of both contaminants in cereal products is puzzling for human health and is under study in a 4 years project called CaDON. Cd is a trace element naturally occurring or added to soils by natural and industrial atmospheric deposition, or through agricultural inputs. It is readily absorbed by wheat roots and translocated to grains. Cereal contaminations with DON, in Europe, are mainly caused by the toxigenic filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum that develops on growing crops. In Europe, legislation fixed the respective limit of concentration of Cd and DON in commercialized wheat grains for human consumption to 0.2 mg/kg and 1750 μg/Kg.This study evaluate the potential of Cd spreading in the different wheat mill streams through processing from distinct durum wheatgrain samples in comparison with those of DON.